


Animal in your heart

by Winner_of_the_disability_bingo



Series: Soulmate September 2020 [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, POV The Doctor (Doctor Who), Soulmates, The Doctor (Doctor Who) Uses They/Them Pronouns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:20:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26258545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winner_of_the_disability_bingo/pseuds/Winner_of_the_disability_bingo
Summary: Soulmate September Day 3 - there is an animal only you and your soulmate can seeSoulmates on Gallifrey weren't quite what humans thought they were
Relationships: The Doctor & Amy Pond (Doctor Who), The Doctor & Bill Potts, The Doctor & Clara Oswin Oswald, The Doctor & Donna Noble, The Doctor & Jack Harkness, The Doctor & River Song, The Doctor & The Master (Doctor Who), The Doctor & Wilfred Mott, The Doctor & Yasmin Khan, The Doctor (Doctor Who) & Martha Jones, The Doctor (Doctor Who) & Rory Williams, The Doctor (Doctor Who) & Rose Tyler, The Doctor (Doctor Who) & Sarah Jane Smith, The Doctor/Yasmin Khan, Thirteenth Doctor & Graham O'Brien, Thirteenth Doctor & Ryan Sinclair
Series: Soulmate September 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904476
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Animal in your heart

Humans didn’t have the same concept of soulmates that Timelords did. The doctor realised this early on.

On Earth, they believed that a soulmate was someone who was bound to you. Someone that the powers above had decided was right for you. On Earth, soulmates were a myth. They were something to be romanticised and thought about, but never truly accepted.

On Gallifrey, soulmates were a fact. They weren’t quite what humans imagine them to be though.

A soulmate is a companion. Someone who you share a bond with. Someone who stays with you for all of your lives. In spirit, if not in person. They weren’t necessarily romantic partners, or even platonic partners. The people who personally affect you, and who you personally affect, are your soulmates.

Some Timelords had one or two soulmates. Others had dozens. There were Timelords whose soulmates were other Timelords. Others whose soulmates stretched across species.

Gallifrey was one of the few planets who accepted the truth of soulmates. It was probably the only one that didn’t revere them in some way. Soulmates were just part of things. Like time and space and regeneration. They didn’t need to be held on a pedestal.

The soulmate connection differed depending on the planet. Some species didn’t have soulmates at all. Gallifrey had soul-animals. An invisible animal companion that stayed with you your entire life. It wasn’t truly invisible, though. The animal’s Timelord could see it, and the Timelord’s soulmates could see it.

The Master was the Doctor’s first soulmate. The Doctor could see the Master’s striped-pig-bear, Nolphedvicvanlem (Nolph for short), and the Master could see the Doctor’s fledershrew, Heppurimrilanmigla (they also responded to Heppy). For a long time, the Master was the only soulmate the Doctor knew of. Then, they stole a TARDIS.

The Doctor met many of their soulmates. A surprising amount of them were on Earth. They all became the Doctor’s companions, even the ones that didn’t last long.

Sarah-Jane was the first to ask about Heppy. It was likely the others just assumed the animal was one of their charms. (although humans would say _his_ charms. The Doctor never understood some species’ obsession with the gender binary). They had told her and she accepted it with more understanding than the Doctor would have expected of a human.

The next to ask was Rose. There had been a misunderstanding, though. Rose was one of the people who thought soulmate were only for romantic relationships. Luckily, Sarah-Jane managed to fix it up before the Doctor even noticed it. After Rose left, it took over a year before Heppy agreed to leave the TARDIS again.

After Rose, it was clear that humans were growing in confidence. Some short term companions asked, some didn’t. Captain Jack asked every time they met. Eventually, it had become a greeting between the two. They run into each other, the Doctor tells Jack to stop whatever he’s doing with their current companion, Jack asks about Heppy. The Doctor isn’t sure if they’ll ever tell Jack what ze means.

Martha clearly saw Heppy, but she never asked about him. The Doctor doubts they would have told her the truth if she did. She must have done independent research after she left, though, because she knew about Timelord soulmates when they met again at UNIT.

Donna didn’t necessarily ask. Heppy laughed during their ‘mate’ misunderstanding, and she had demanded to know what ze was. Donna, like Rose, thought that soulmates meant romance, but the Doctor managed to clear it up with her. The next time Donna asked was when she was leaving for work and the Doctor was talking with her family. After that, Heppy made sure to hide around her.

Wilf could see Heppy, so at least they had that. They never really knew why until he knocked on that glass.

Amelia asked about Heppy within two minutes of meeting them. She had been incredibly excited about the fact that she was ‘a spaceman’s soulmate’. Amy didn’t ask about Heppy, but the Doctor knew she could see zim from the beginning by the way the ‘police woman’ glanced between them.

Rory could see zim. He had tried to ask about it once but Amy had dragged him off and explained it to him. He looked at the Docter strangely for several days after and the Doctor ended up sitting them both down and explaining how soulmates worked on Gallifrey.

River didn’t ask. The Silence had probably told her while she was training to kill them.

Clara saw Heppy in every life the Doctor found her in. She didn’t ask. She just seemed to know. The original Clara was the only one who really seemed confused by zim. After Trenzalor, she held the same knowledge as all the others. When the Doctor’s memories of Clara were erased, Heppy’s memories were untouched. They knew Clara ran that ‘diner’ (it was obviously a disguised TARDIS) the second they walked in.

Bill didn’t seem to care that much. It was just another part of their mystery to her. It was possible she went snooping in one of the TARDIS libraries and found out, but she never talked to them about it.

Ryan, Graham and Yaz all asked together. It was a very tight-knit group. That was good, it meant they’d do fine without the Doctor. They had clearly been discussing it among themselves. They waited until there was a quiet day. Graham was the one to actually ask, the other two sat next to him.

After the full explanation, Yaz smiled in a way that reminded them so much of Rose. Not in the way she smiled. In the way it made their stomachs turn and their head feel light. The Doctor has had three wives, and many more lovers. One more couldn’t hurt.


End file.
